It is known that absorbent tampons made of soft deformable materials, and particularly resiliently deformable materials, such as hydrophilic or mensesphilic polyurethane foams, not only provide high absorbent capacity for menstrual exudate but also protect against early leakage: This is attributed in part to the fact that uncompressed low density materials initially have high absorptive capacity and do not have to be acted upon, or depend on other expansion activating agents, to expand to useful size. In addition, the soft uncompressed materials have surface areas which more readily accept exudate and have a faster uptake than do the hardened surface areas of conventional compressed tampons. Further when resilient materials such as foams are used, the inherent springy resiliency such foams possess enable these foams to conform more readily to the multiple irregular folds, ridges and valleys of the vaginal walls when the walls are in their normal collapsed state. While high pressures exerted by the walls on any particular portion of the foam will tend to compress the foam considerably in the particular area where such pressure is exerted, immediately adjacent wall areas which exert lesser pressure, compress the foam correspondingly less, and the foam, in trying to expand to its normal uncompressed condition, will tend to fill any voids which exist thus reducing the possibility of side channel leakage and premature failure.
The main problem in utilizing resiliently deformable or other soft low density materials for internal catamenial use is how to conveniently deliver the material into the vaginal vault in a manner which overcomes the high pressures that ordinarily resist the introduction of such soft resilient material into the vaginal channel.
Such material has no significant columnar strength or integrity even when compressively confined in a tube. Accordingly, when attempts were made to use conventional delivery systems comprising a pair of telescoping tubes in which the tampon is compressively disposed in an outer tube, and an inner tube or similar pusher element is utilized to push against the bottom of the tampon to eject it into the vaginal cavity, it was found that during ejection the tampons tended to collapse or compress longitudinally, spread laterally and cause jamming within the tube so delivery was quite difficult or impossible. As a result when using ordinary tube systems one had to resort to compressing the material beyond its elastic limit or otherwise structure it in a manner to make the tampon material sufficiently dense or stiff to provide it with enough temporary structural integrity or columnar strength to be self-supporting and thus capable of being shoved out of the tube from below without the above-mentioned difficulties.
Thus, while the desirability of using a tampon which exhibits softness and resiliently expandable capabilities immediately upon insertion has been recognized, a means for delivering a tampon with such capabilities in the desired substantially uncompressed condition and in an economically feasible manner has not been satisfactorily achieved prior to this invention. Some inserter devices have been developed which mechanically spread deformable tampons at the time of insertion but none has been developed which satisfactorily holds a tampon of resiliently deformable material in temporarily deformed condition; which is capable of delivering the tampon with acceptable ease while in relatively uncompressed condition; and when resiliently compressible material is used, utilizes the inherent resiliency of the tampon itself to permit spontaneous expansion after delivery without the need for mechanically assisted deployment or for activation by the subsequent absorption of the fluids the tampons are designed to capture.
This invention is directed to a delivery system which is substantially independent on the density, softness, structural integrity or columnar strength of the tampon and yet permits relatively easy insertion of soft, readily deformable low density tampons, which may or may not be resilient, into the vaginal cavity in spite of the high pressure resistance of the walls which is normally encountered. In addition, it permits lateral positioning of the tampon after expulsion from the temporarily confining carrier member of the system.